Archive for March, 2018


Ask Black Witch: Time to Catch Up!

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March 30, 2018

All right, I’ve been gone for a while so I’m going to try to clean out what ABW’s I have sitting about. Let’s get started!

I’ve had contact with someone now I’m locked in spiritually i feel like I’m transitioning thru colors. Green n Gray already. I don’t understand how I know but I’m hereditary. I don’t have a teacher or know where to start.

Bossy C.

This isn’t a bad question but one I do get with some consistency. The problem is less burdensome than it appears so let’s break it down.

Chances are usually better than not that you are not bound to anyone, especially at such a new stage. It is probably just nerves. While there are spooktacular stories of being bound to someone in occult, it is not always actual bindings. The telltale-sign? How new the person is to the occult. While there are cultural beliefs of binding to others which are verily legit, it’s less “You bumped into them in the market, now your soul has been deadbolted and soldered to them for ever and ever” and more, “You developed a bond which is a bit resistive to breaking – but can be broken through relatively simple and mundane ways.” If it were someone more neck deep in magick, then it could be possible bindings (which can also still be broken). But new? Naaaaaaah, not likely.

Color magick is pretty important but different colors can mean different things to different people. For example, I’m American, so I can associate red with anger. My friend in France? It’s yellow. Which can confuse me because I, as an American, associate yellow with fear. But another one of my friends on the other side of America would rather associate white to fear, and yellow to wistfulness. This means I can’t really say for sure what the colors you feel mean because I could say “jealousy and indecisiveness” but be waaaaaaaaaaaaay off the mark. This is where your Book of Shadows/Disk of Shadows (BOS/DOS) comes in and and a reference guide on color magick (I have suggested several books on my site, I tend to suggest Where to Park Your Broomstick by Laura Manoy most) and work it out yourself for accuracy. If you’re hereditary, that’s also a good place to start as well if there are any source materials to work with.

Basically, the best place to start is with a book and your BOS/DOS. I wouldn’t get too wrapped up about the guy, either.

Hello, this is all new and foreign to me. I have been through a lot of shit in my life and I have found a sigil that means a lot to me. It is the treachery returns to the betrayer sigil. If I were to get this tattoo is is just symbolism or does it automatically become a charged sigil?
– Damon H

The quick answer is: don’t do it.

If you have no idea what the hell you are doing, simply abstain until smarter – always a good rule of thumb in magick. Getting sigils (especially from the internet – Tumblr is the worst offender I’ve found so far) can be a cool thing…until you are reminded that it’s a bonding magickal symbol. Magickal symbols probably shouldn’t be tatted anywhere on your person unless you’re a 150% scholar on the thing you’re getting. It could be the symbol is from a culture and you’re about to be super disrespectful (like getting a Hindu deity on a part of the body deemed disrespectful, like a leg or back), the symbol can tether you to the meaning of whatever you got, for good or for worse (and guess which part of the binary gets me “Plz help” emails), or it loses meaning to you or you found it was the wrong symbol all along (think of people who get tattoos that they think means “strong, willful” and it actually means “moron”).

Even the sigil you mentioned could be a wildly different symbol from what I’m thinking of…because a lot of cultures have different sigils. A lot of them. It could be the Voudon version, the Latin version, there’s even a Wiccan version (I don’t always take that version seriously (see: Tumblr) but it does exist).

You’re breathing intent and effort into the sigil and fastening it to yourself, literally. It’s probably not smart. Just get a tat of something else that signifies the same thing and is not a sigil or religious symbol.

Hi just wanted to start by saying that I love your writings. You are very eloquent, and as a fellow research nerd (art history grad student) I love how you stress research/reading.

My question is two fold (and slightly predictable, sorry). I read your stance about love spells and it makes so much sense. I’ve been hesitant to try any for a lot of the reasons that you mentioned. I saw that you said spells to get a date were easier. I was wondering if you could point me towards the direction of some such spells? I am moving across the country this summer and would love to date more in my new city. I am also a woman with a disability and would love a little boost in getting dates. Any suggestions you have on where to start researching for a safe spell (don’t want a stalker either) would be great!

I was also wondering if you knew of any resources for spells for the differently abled? Or how to adapt spells safely? I’ve read a lot about grounding through connecting your bare feet to the dirt or taking cleansing baths to prepare for spell work which isn’t an easy option when you have a mobility impairment. Anny thoughts you have would be appreciated. Thank you in advance for your help!

-Kels

For spells about relationships, there are several in Where to Park Your Broomstick by Lauren Manoy as she has a pretty decent chapter on it. As well as general “Magick 101” for anyone starting magick. All spells carry risk, though. There is no spell I can think of, even the super positive ones, that are 100% risk-free. Doesn’t exist. There are plenty of low risks (like the super positive spells) but there aren’t any no-risk. Spells backfire, go flat or deeply awry. I remember once casting a small money spell for $87 dollars when I was a teenager – that exact amount – because of a concert I wanted to go to. I got the $87…and literally nothing else. Like, no money was coming my way – it got tied up somehow, fell through or it was a huge hassle. Basically, the spell took the intention to be “I want $87…and that’s all the money I’ll need for the rest of time.” Really simple spell and it backfired marvelously. Again, no such thing as a no-risk spell. Even if you did correctly, something can still go topsy-turvy. So that means you could still get a stalker-type with even a “I just want a date” spell. Not as likely as a super controlling one but it is still a possibility.

It’s easy to adapt for disability because you’re still touching the ground somehow. I don’t do the “bare feet on soil” because living in the city, you’re not super likely to find a place good enough or safe enough (no broken glass or dirty needles on the ground). There are other ways to cleanse yourself that doesn’t use baths. Just modify as you go with whatever works best. It’s the point of the action, not the action itself.

can u get me out of this binding and protection from a dreamscape witch and other forces negative to me. they say im the reincarnation of king tut…

– Skylair G.

Ah, another binding question but with a tad more nonsense. The nonsense:

A “dreamscape” witch – yes, different entities exist on the astral plain but this sounds more Narnia than anything

Reincarnation of King Tut – Seriously? This is right up there with Cleopatra, Cesar and other historical figureheads most commonly touted in Western lore. If you think you’re one of these people, chances are stupidly good that you’re not. There can not possibly be that many King Tuts, Cleopatras and Ceasars, walking about. Just not.

This also is another “gimme gimme” request, nothing substantial. Chances are very strong that this person is mainly stressing themselves with their own thinking – there isn’t a real issue, just reading into shadows in the window.

If I tie a picture around a piece of meat and bury it. What happens to the person on the picture?
– Pearl

Behold, an actually stupid question. If you’re going to dabble in magick: don’t. If you don’t like someone and learning is too time-taxing for you, just be old-school confrontational about it.

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The Arts!: “Avant Guardians” and “Guns, Explained with Cats”

Filed under: The Arts — Leave a comment
March 26, 2018

Guns, Explained with Cats
This insightful video by Alex Clark explains why there should be better gun control in the United States – because, there should be better gun controls. Explained with cats.

 

I grew up with gun violence, it’s not fun and it devolves from “good guy with a gun and bad guy with a gun” to “people with guns” really, really fast. And frankly, this is America, is extraordinarily hard to tell the good guys from the bad guys, especially when they’re doing the same thing – shooting. Then you’re just a plain ol’ shooter. Just get better gun control already.

Avant Guardians
This series is absolutely wonderful and chuckle worthy. It’s of a guardian angel in therapy to work through her problems so she can be a better guardian angel to her human, that she warmly nicknames “Creepy Charlie”. Watch all the episodes here on their site but here are the first two episodes:

 

 

 

That’s all for this week! Next week is Ask Black Witch. Good questions are appreciated, bad questions are eviscerated! Send them in!

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“Won’t Someone Fix My Problems? I Only Want to Make Them”

Filed under: Pagan Life, Relationships and Dating — Leave a comment
March 16, 2018

Everyone, let’s start with a comic from “Heck if I Know”:

This comic pretty much illustrates the end game of practically every whiner, dabbler and dunce that waltzes into my inbox, even while I was on break.

Thing is, people are a lot more corrupt than the character in this comic. I don’t think I’ve had many, if any, that wanted the person in their crosshairs to have any will or choice in the matter. Just “change their mind so I don’t have to change myself”. Which is usually a red flag of “you’re abusive” because trying to control someone is not an expression of love, at all.

Or better yet, folks want to bring down actual gods and goddesses to do their handiwork…as if that has ever worked out well for the human involved. Even in various texts, the humans does work out for a) was usually a demigod (half human, half deity) themselves or b) it moreso works* – with a huge asterisk because it wasn’t all roses and candy. It’s Oshun, not Alexa. It’s Loki, not Tom Hiddleston (I have to explain that one a lot – or I get a bunch of “I think I’m haunted”/”I might be possessed”/ “Life is crappier than usual and in really weird ways” emails). Many deities like helping the universe they helped create because they are duty-bound or some particular living (or not living) creature really warms them. No deities appreciate being treated as the lowly grunt that has to scoop up whatever excrement you’ve made of life itself. And are extremely happy to express that by making a point of being a celestial-grade douchebag to whomever doesn’t get it. Which, as deities, they’re really, really good at.

The comic is comedic because some poor sprite has to help this hapless guy work out a very normal and very much singular (in the fact it only affects the guy alone, not the guy and the spirit) problem. It is understandable that love is complex but it’s not better solved with divine intervention because, just like the person in the comic, it fixes nothing. The person learned nothing. Or at least, what they learned was that they actually don’t have to do anything, just run to someone else and let them do the hard work. Which eventually becomes an eventual loop of nonsense, especially for the person on the receiving end of all of this.

What would have better suited the person in the comic, Joe, is to have learned from the previous big issue that got him the boot the first time, not bother with the sprites (or, if they were trying to clue him into what to do, actually listen) and just try to fix things so they won’t be broken the next time. Is it easy? Not at all. Relationships are never easy. Dealing with people in general is incredibly taxing, being in a committed, emotional partnership with just one is also hard. But doable, with some effort, some thinking and some effective communication. But going to lengths of wanting someone else to clean up the mess you made (or just make it all disappear because “free will” is a chore) is not smart. Which is why I’m usually pretty flippant when folks ask. Especially if it is the hundredth time asking and won’t take “no” for an answer and “Here are some reasons why your plan is bad…” as a follow up. I think I have rarely came across anyone who was asking for a person to be controlled or manipulated somehow who was really respectful, level headed or, well, respectful. Always beggars and, moreover, always beggars with attitudes that makes the reason why they’re now abruptly single very crystal clear the longer they talk.

Long story short, don’t be like Joe. Be sensible. Sometimes relationships don’t work out. Magick just sometimes delays the inevitable, especially if the person is stubborn. And by “delay”, I mean, “makes all things point straight to the inevitable”. No need to beg some random person on the internet or dabble in something that is probably not smart to dabble in.

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Black Identity and Paganism

Filed under: Race — Leave a comment
March 9, 2018

It seems pan-Africanism is getting a revival of sorts in Western Black culture. Not a full revival but a sort of revival. There’s the natural hair movement, the extended (but sometimes very lop-sided) discussion of history and faiths that fall outside of Abrahamic beliefs and more media that reflects Blackness a bit more than usual (movies such as Black Panther (The superhero, not the political party) come to mind.) This is great for a host of reasons but also could potentially be another as identity movements such as these come and go in hills and valleys.

Pan-Africanism refers to all things Black: the history, the people, the culture. When done well, it’s very self-confidence boosting and creates solid ground to build a stable identity upon, inclusive of all Black people, not just a thin slice of an intersection (which is usually male, usually straight, usually cis, usually Western and usually 1D in ideas and beliefs). It decenters Whiteness, which is both inaccurately used and determined as the yardstick of “what is a human? What is human?” and allows people, Black people, to simply be themselves. When done poorly, it just subtly supports White supremacist thinking, theories and ideologies, creates discord and only benefits one thin slice of an intersection (which, again, is usually male, usually straight, usually cis, usually Western and usually 1D in ideas and beliefs). Then there’s the middle where things just swing between the two because Blackness is understood and expressed differently by different Black people and people, in general, are pretty complex. What bothers someone from Zimbabwe is probably not going to bother someone from America, which may or may not irk someone from Germany. All Black but all different for a myriad of reasons.

And with Paganism, this is no different. It’s been said many times already, Paganism – particularly Western Paganism – has a severe and vastly ignored issue (there’s lip service but still usually ignored at the end of the day) of painting itself as overly White. Paganism encompasses all indigenous faiths throughout the world but is usually streamlined to Euro-centric practices, with some token practices that get commonly Whitewashed, such as yoga, chakras, feng shui, Voodun and, as a whole, Buddhism.

Black people in the West seem to want to get more back in their cultures but it’s difficult because there are many more things in play besides just race alone. For one, there’s the different Black cultures. What someone from Nairobi feels is important to them is going to be different from someone from Atlanta because the differences of where they come from, which sometimes is commonly forgotten when Black people, particularly Westerners, want to have a cultural revival and reconnection but may still adopt Western imperialist attitudes about those who are not similar to them, even if they look like them. Rave about being from the “motherland” but shame those who are still there simply because of difference of opinion or complete misunderstanding. I saw this a lot from those who were happy to see Black Panther because of its Black representation (which did indeed pain Marvel at the start, which not just a Marvel problem but a Whiteness-in-comics general problem) but would still make light or underhanded jabs about the state of various African places. Or still referred to Africa as a country and not a continent. Or about the manner of traditional African dress and style referenced or featured in Black Panther.

With other ideas and practices, such as natural hair and the modernized concept of being “woke” (aware of institutional injustices that is primarily driven by White supremacist & imperialism-focused racism but strongly targets with a vein of anti-Blackness (but can also get kicked into selfish and blind overdrive that ignores intersectionalism when not balanced)), it helps Black folks relate to their histories and look more into whatever scraps of their family tree and past they may find but it still is difficult. From the Black cultural side, there’s a lot of misinformation because most Western books on Black culture and identity were generally written or gatekept by White editors and writers and explorers so what facts and info is more widely available is pretty much poisoned with “those subhuman savages with bones in their noses” beliefs from National Geographic to a good sum of academic books. That can further poison more minds and reinforce Western imperialist ideas (“Life sucks as an American but at least I don’t live in a mud hut”) as well as confuse in Black minds.

From the Pagan cultural side, it works pretty hard to keep Paganism, and all its diverse practices, very White. Either on purpose or through subconscious accident. Many Black folks just looking at the Pagan side of their pan-cultural history already have problems of encountering expressions of identity that should be for them being Whitewashed and torn apart. Or they run into the same gatekeeping of Whiteness that is already common just about everywhere else.  What is discovered is that modern Pagan practice tends to choke out diverse perspectives in favor of tokenized ones that preferably has price tags attached to them.

It’s nice that there’s a new wave of Black identity where now we’re more in control than prior but still there are walls present. If it isn’t self-perception of pan-African cultural identity, it’s outer forces that could reinforce negative self-perception of pan-African cultural identity.

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I’m Back

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March 2, 2018

Welcome back! I’ve been gone for a while! I mainly needed a break. During the time of my break I’ve been working on stuff (not all of it Black Witch focused) and even got a new 3D printer so I can make things to put in the BW Shoppe. Right now it’s full of book arts stuff like sewing cradles, awl guides, things like that. As time goes on, I’ll add more stuff. I’m also going to open it up for custom 3D printing service as well but that’s probably going to need a minute or two because there’s a lot to explain about 3D printing to those who never seen it in action (here’s a video of it in action). 3D Printing: It’s one step above watching paint dry). Either way, stuff is happening.

I’ve taken a break from a lot of BW social media (FB, Twitter and Tumblr) but that’s because it was wearing me out, frankly.

Not much has happened since I was on break, which was probably a good thing. I was pretty stressed so nothing really useful would have came from it.

That’s all for updates! I may do a livestream on FB later (possibly Saturday).

Here’s a sample print that I’ve been working on:

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